American Federal Government Congress, The First Branch
You should remember from earlier • Bicameral institution – 435 seats in the House of Representatives • approximately 650, 000 persons in each district • Elected every 2 years – 100 seats in the Senate • Elected every 6 years
So, how does Congress accomplish anything? • Committees and Subcommittees – Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources • • Subcommittee on Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee on National Parks Subcommittee on Water and Power • They have them in both the House and the Senate
Matthew, please tell me we don’t have to write all these down • • • Committee of Agriculture Committee of Appropriations Committee of Armed Services Committee of the Budget Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee on Education and Labor Committee of Financial Services Committee on Gov’t Reform Committee of Homeland Security Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee of Rules • • • Committee of the Judiciary Committee on House Administration Committee on Natural Resources Committee on Science and Technology Committee on Small Business Committee on Veteran Affairs Committee on Ways and Means Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Commerce and Transportation
So how many of these things do we have? • The House of Representatives – Committees: 22 – Subcommittees: 106 • The Senate – Committees: 20 – Subcommittees: 73 • Committees have 9 members and subcommittees have 5 -9 members (depending on rules) – Average congressperson sits on 3 sub/committees
Are all committees the same? • Committees and Subcommittees have a number of different structures • Standing Committees: Permanent • Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, Agriculture • Select Committees: Permanent or Temporary • Ethics, Aging, Global Warming • Joint Committees: Permanent from both chambers • Joint Committee of Printing • Conference Committees: Temporary • Iron out issues if the House and Senate can’t agree
How a Bill Becomes Law
How a Bill Becomes Law
How a Bill Becomes Law
Believe it or not, there are rules • Floor Proceedings – House: Rules are run by majority party • • quorum closed rules open rules The importance of the Rules Committee
I wanna talk for 24 hours…go for it! • Floor Proceedings – Senate • • no rules limiting debate filibuster cloture = 60 votes unanimous consent agreements – the way much business gets conducted
So has congress always been the same? • 19 th Century Congress – High Turnover (30 -60%) – Strong Party Leadership • Speaker controlled Rule Committee – Parties control nomination process and dominate electoral process – Presidential/Congressional Power: One-sided
REVOLT!!! • Transition Period (Revolt of 1910) – Speaker Joseph Cannon (Rep. IL) had both Republicans and Democrats demand reforms to the system • Speaker removed from Rule Committee • “Seniority System” for chair placement • Party can no longer punish individual members by skipping them over • Decrease in turnover rates (beginning of “career politicians”) • Insult to injury: Direct Election of Senators
And they lived happily ever after…not so much • Congress became more difficult to control – Increased Presidential Power – Committee chairs become just as dictatorial as the former Speakers of the House – Problem arises with “Seniority System” • Southern Democrats through “Seniority System” managed to take over most chairs, but they don’t agree with the rest of the Democratic Party
Well, maybe those reforms weren’t such a good idea • Starting in the 1970’s there comes a new wave of reform to congress – Liberal Democrats overhaul system to get conservative Southern Democrats out of the committee chairs • • Reversed “Seniority” System (still largely followed) Proceedings became more visible (C-SPAN) Speaker could appoint Rules Committee Speaker can send bill to more than 1 committee
Скачать презентацию American Federal Government Congress The First Branch
ae25e7fffab505598db27314d5d9611f.ppt